Zuchino Series Part 1: The Avengers Initiative
by Wesker's Son
Summary: After crashing on the planet Earth, the Saiyan warrior Zuchino is met by Fury. From there, he is given asylum on the planet from the Planet Trade Organization in exchange for one day helping defend the planet. With Norse God Loki attempting to conquer the planet, Fury calls in the favor... (Revised)
1. Prologue

**_A/N: Hello reader, please go to my profile to answer a poll regarding the future of this series. Thank you._**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Prologue**_

* * *

40 Miles Outside of Topeka, Kansas

April 24, 2010

8:00 A.M. CST

Colin awoke from his dreams to the sound of his alarm. Deciding against hitting the snooze button, he pushed himself up and hit the stop button. He noticed that the space beside him, typically reserved for his wife, was empty. However, the smell of cooking food gave him a hint as to where she was. He got out of bed and put on some comfortable clothes (today was his day off, after all): a blue plaid shirt, black jeans, and his Chelsea boots. It was nothing special, but it was comfortable for him. Finishing his morning maintenance of brushing his teeth and hair, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen. His wife, Natalie, had made his favorite: blueberry pancakes with bacon on the side.

"Hello, honey." Natalie greeted her husband with a warm, yet groggy smile as she set the table. "I woke up a bit earlier, decided to do some of the last-minute changes for finalizing the housewarming tomorrow."

"Really? I didn't know we had a housewarming tomorrow." Colin inquired as he sat at the table with a confused glance.

"Trisha didn't call you yesterday?" She asked to a quick "No" in response. "Damn it, I can't trust her to do shit." The woman scoffed, pinching the bridge of her nose to soothe an incoming headache. "Well, the basics of it is that the Powells decided we weren't moving in fast enough, so she decided we should have a housewarming tomorrow to get everyone over here to help us pack."

"And we can't move in at our own pace because…"

"Because your sister is a dumbass." Natalie finished as she took a seat next to him. Colin thought for a second, then nodded.

"Fair point. Anyway, I say we unpack our bedroom today." Colin suggested as Natalie smiled and nodded. They began eating and the small talk for the time being. Since they both mostly worked alternative shifts, it was rare they managed to sit down and eat breakfast together; it was best to get every bit of happiness out of these types of moments.

"Oh, I've got a surprise outside." Colin interrupted as he hopped up from the chair.

"What is it?"

"That's why it's a surprise." He reminded as he led to the back door. Confused but also excited, she let him continue to walk her to the backyard. Once he opened the door, she laid eyes on what looked like…

"Oh my god, we're getting a pool?!" She asked excitedly and he nodded with a smirk. "Oh my god!" She belted as she hugged her husband and planted a kiss on his lips. Just as they disconnected, they both heard a sound. It was almost like a sound of rushing wind. Colin, holding his wife behind him, walked forward and looked into the sky. What he saw damn near made his heart burst out of his chest: a large, fiery meteor was barreling down towards them.

"Get in the house!" Colin commanded as the duo turned and ran into the house. The second they crossed the threshold, the space rock smashed into the ground right behind their house. The impact shattered all the glass of the house and sent the couple flying down. Dust quickly flew into the house and covered the duo before an eerie calm seemed to settle across the house.

"Natalie, you okay?"

"Yea, how about you?" She asked, her voice quivering.

"Yea, I'm fine." Colin answered as he stood to his feet. The lights the house flashed off on impact, leaving the sunlight emerging from the open doors and broken windows to offer a cloudy beam of sunlight. "What the hell was that?" Colin muttered to himself before he began slowly walking over to it.

"Colin, what are you doing? What if it's radioactive?!" She said to no avail, her husband continued walking to the door. She quickly got up and continued after her husband, letting him lead the way. Whatever it was, it burrowed deep into the ground behind their house, right on the pool's designated spot. Once they got to the edge, the husband and wife's breath stopped at the sight. It wasn't a space rock.

* * *

"Coulson, Hill." Nick Fury greeted as he climbed out of the van and began walking to the closed off scene. His two trusted agents lifted up the "DO NOT CROSS" rope for him and allowed him to enter the closed-off property. Coulson took a look back at the reporters beginning to swarm the house; it didn't take much for people to both see and hear a meteorite crashing down on Earth and report it to the news. Thankfully it was just local news, for now, national and international news would probably be there in an hour at most. It didn't take but a few seconds before for Fury ask, "What happened?"

"An alien craft crashed into the homeowner's backyard at eight-thirty this morning, said it came out of nowhere. They called the police and the local department called us in. It must've been moving incredibly fast, none of our satellites even picked it up."

"Is whatever came in it hostile?" Fury inquired, sparing a glance at the shaken couple before continuing across the house to the backyard.

"There's no way of telling just yet, our guys are still trying to get it open." Hill answered as they finally reached the spot. It was a large crater, at least 10 feet in diameter, with a white pod sitting at the center of it. Fury could see the red window that was far too tinted for them to see through. "It's definitely a ship, but we don't know what's inside of it."

"It's a peculiar ship, there's no engine on it or propellers, but it struck the Earth with enough power to burrow into the ground at least twenty feet." Coulson added as they watched with silent curiosity until a shout from the workers caught their attention.

"Hey, we almost have it open!" One of the workers called out as they pushed on the rod inserted in the join between one more hard time and the door, after a groan, ripped open. The trio of superiors walked down to see their alien. It looked like a teenage human male with long black hair, a tan complexion, and possessed a slim, yet muscular build. What caught their attention was the battle wounds riddling his body, judging from the red blood oozing from each of countless gashes, cuts, and what seemed looked like bullet holes across his torso. His black bodysuit, or rather the remains of it, clung to his legs and parts of his arm.

"Jesus Christ, what happened to him?" Coulson muttered as Fury looked over to the paramedics and gave a nod. They got a stretcher and proceeded to lift the unconscious alien from his pod and rushed him back to the ambulance. The trio got into the van and followed at the ambulance to the S.H.I.E.L.D. station.

* * *

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…

The steady beeping was what finally awoke Zuchino from his slumber. Finally opening his eyes after the third attempt to let his eyes adjust to the brightness in the room. It was pure white, nothing of interest to add to it. To his left was a mirror, reflecting his own confused glance back to him. To his right was the monitor that constantly let out that incessant noise. If it wasn't for the fact his energy level was very dangerously low, he would've destroyed it with a ki blast.

His entire body felt numb, save for the dull pain that ached in his chest for some reason. He tried to sit up, but his arms were too sore to move. Instead, he leaned up and looked around. Now, he could see that the front of the room had a small table with a strange container. He looked down at his body to see he clothed in a gown and a few wires were sticking out from his chest and body, including a tube feeding something into his wrist.

"What the hell are these?" He muttered as he grabbed at the wires.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned to see a tall, bald man with black clothing and a patch over his left eye. They stared at each other for a few seconds before he cocked an eyebrow. "It'll send off a bunch of alarms and annoy the hell out of both you and me."

"Then can you turn it off?" He asked as the man walked to the machine and flipped the switch, finally stopping the annoying beeping.

"At least I know you speak English." The man said.

"You mean the common language?" Zuchino questioned as the man's eyebrow cocked.

"Gonna have to remember that for later." He said as he walked closer.

"Can you tell me what planet this is?" Zuchino pushed past his arm's soreness and rubbing his eyes when asking the question.

"Earth."

"No, I mean the planet's number." Zuchino inquired, giving the man an aside glance of annoyance before continuing to rub his eyes.

"Number?" The Saiyan eyed his expression before his glance softened, putting his hands down.

"You mean to tell me you don't know your planet's Freeza number?"

"Not as far as I know. We only go by Earth." The Saiyan fell back on the bed, a breath of relief escaping his lips once he made contact with the pillow.

"Good, last thing I need is to fight off his loyalists trying to avenge him." Zuchino muttered as the ghost of a smirk appeared on his face.

"What is a Freeza number?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. That bullshit numbering system died along with the creator." Zuchino's head turned to face the man.

"Okay, I'll ask this: what caused you to crash-land on our planet?" The strange man asked, stepping even closer to the alien in the bed.

"I was in a battle, a very heated one at that with Freeza, the dictator of most of the known universe after he killed off my race. If I thought I looked bad, you should see him."

"So, you're by yourself?" A sorrowful feeling quickly washed over him, thinking back to the events that transpired, but he stoned up in another instant (not knowing the man noticed it).

"As far as I know, yes. Everyone else is dead."

"And your planet?"

"He destroyed it when he killed everyone."

"Damn." The man muttered under his breath; a thought quickly crossed his mind before he looked back at the alien and asked," Just how powerful was this dictator that he could destroy a planet?"

"I take it, from the sound of your confusion, your species haven't figured out how to master ki?" Zuchino asked, not even looking up at the man.

"Ki?" Zuchino got his answer.

"Sparing you the long-winded explanation I was given; ki is life energy, every living creature has it of some form. Most beings in the universe don't understand how to draw it out, let alone manipulate it. My race, the Saiyan race, was naturally able to draw it out." Deciding a demonstration was in order, Zuchino raised his right hand, creating a golden ball of energy in his hand. "And when you can draw it out, you can use it in multiple forms, such as energy blasts, flying, and defensive moves like barriers."

"So, that dictator had enough ki to destroy a planet?"

"How much ki you possess, whether from training or being naturally born with it, determines how powerful you are. Freeza naturally possessed the highest amount of ki in the universe, barring Beerus the Destroyer." Zuchino realized he mentioned the name and brushed off the man's confused expression with a small shake of his head. "That's a story for another day. He and many Saiyans for that matter could destroy planets very easily with energy blasts powerful enough."

"Can you destroy a planet?"

"Yes."

"How do you know you can destroy planets?"

The Saiyan's jaw clenched for a few seconds before he managed to say, "Because I've done it before. I've done things I'm not particularly proud of, that included exterminating planets across the universe for Freeza."

"How do I know that this is not a trick?"

"Because if it was, you would be dead now; I've fought in worse conditions." Zuchino grimaced before sighing and relaxing his expression. "But that's all I can offer. If you would like me to leave this planet, I'll do it now with my pod."

"Here's my last question: are there others who can destroy planets in our universe?"

"Yes, I've fought many of them. They're rare, but they are definitely are there." Zuchino looked up at the man. There were a few moments of silence between the two as Zuchino assumed he was processing all he heard, which he can't necessarily blame him for being slow to catch on to. If you never knew much about the universe before this moment, learning about the mechanics of something as complex as ki and the Freeza Force would be a lot to catch up on.

"I don't entirely trust you, that will take time…but I would prefer to keep you on this planet for the time being." The man said, earning a confused look from Zuchino. He didn't trust him, but he still wanted him here. "If what you said is right and there are others in this universe with the power to destroy our planet, I feel we would be better off having you here where you can help." The man stated as Zuchino nodded, he couldn't question that logic.

"So, I'll tell you this: as a representative of this planet, I am willing to give you housing and food to live off on one condition: you help us when we need you." Zuchino sighed under his breath.

"From one glorbob-hill to another." He muttered underneath his breath before he looked once again the man and nodded. "I didn't hear what you call yourself."

"Nicholas Fury, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D." He greeted as he extended his hand. "Nice to have you on board, Mr…"

"Zuchino." He shook his hand.


	2. Call to Action

**_Chapter 2: Call to Action_**

* * *

Washington, District of Colombia

May 2, 2012

11:15 P.M.

Walking was an activity Zuchino had begun to grow fond of, even in though it was very obvious it was going to rain very soon, judging by the lightning and various spots of where water sprinkled down. Being stuck on this backwater planet didn't afford him too much other to do, but he began to find it calming. Maybe it was that he was very used to flying everywhere or it was that this planet's atmosphere was actually very easy to breathe in compared to the countless other planets that he has been too, something about the activity set his mind at ease.

Most likely was the fact he could finally go at his own pace. The few sprinkles of rain that the lightning show in the sky teased the Earth with finally began coming down with more intensity. Despite the massive crowd of humans rushing to find shelter in the storm, the Saiyan was making it through the mob with relative ease.

He turned to his right and glanced at the tall structure…what was it called…oh yes, the Washington Monument. He found it interesting that these humans idolized their dead with such things, Saiyans simply threw them into space and kept moving. The closest they ever came to memorialize their dead was keeping the armor of the dearly departed if they were among the upper-class (Elites, Royal Guard, and Royal Blood only), but that was only because their armor was a commodity. He cast another small glance over to it before he continued down the busy sidewalk back to his apartment.

Two Earth years passed since his pod marooned on this planet (It hasn't even been 1/4 a cycle on Planet Vegeta; he'd also calculated that he was 34 years old by this planet's standards, which by this planet's standards made him an adult). With no destination in mind and knowing that any attempt to return to the PTO would more than likely result in a lot of needless fighting, he was better suited remaining off the radar and presumed dead to the rest of the galaxy for as long as he could manage.

Still though, he'd picked up on a lot during his time here at least. The technology here was not much different from the technology the PTO possessed and what they called the "internet" really helped him learn about some of the planet's people and their culture. It also helped him form a new identity since he was looked like the humans of Japan. Sadly, though they resembled the Saiyans in appearance, their culture was far from familiar. But despite the strangeness of this planet's culture, he was slowly becoming adjusted to it…well, in terms of tolerating it compared to living under Freeza's thumb at least.

After getting away from the tourist destinations of the city, Zuchino finally reached the apartment building that he was residing in. S.H.I.E.L.D. had placed him in a residential area close to their headquarters, the Triskelion. They said it was for his own safety, but he knew it was because they never fully trusted him. It definitely wouldn't hurt his feelings if they admitted to it, but he also understood the deception they were pulling. Zuchino entered the building and gave a small nod and smirk to the building manager, Jett.

"Hey, Mike; it's pouring down out there, isn't it?" He asked sarcastically at seeing the drenched Saiyan.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Zuchino quipped back at the human, giving him a small smirk as he leaned against the door. "How's your day been?"

"Eh, so-so." He said as Zuchino nodded in understanding. "It would've been nice if our contractor had decided come on time today, not two hours late." Jett added with a sarcastic tone. "How about you?"

"Meh, you know. Work." Zuchino shrugged. "It could've been worse."

"Well, before you go, your boss arrived. Says he has a job for you." He said as he looked at his watch. "Now, if you'll excuse me, some little bastard decided to take a piss in the pool."

"Gotcha, have fun." Zuchino said before he began walking up the stairs.

"Have fun." Jett mocked once he was out of earshot.

* * *

Reaching the shared apartment, he unlocked the door with the keycard and stepped in. His senses picked up on the ki signature before he even entered the apartment. Hanging his coat on the hook, he entered the apartment. The lights were already on and in the middle of the living room sat Fury. Zuchino gave him a small nod of acknowledgment, which Fury returned.

"I normally would ask what you're doing here, but you are paying for the place, so I'll let that go." Zuchino said as he casually walked over to his liquor cabinet and grabbed a jar of whiskey. He raised it to the human, but he shook his head. "So, finally come to call in the favor?" Zuchino inquired as he poured the liquor into a glass.

"I have." Fury said as Zuchino looked over to him with a small glance before he took a swig. He was going to make a joke, but he noticed the absolutely serious look in his eyes.

"What is it?"

"It's not the Freeza Force." Fury stated, noticing the tense look on the Saiyan's face.

"Oh, okay." Zuchino shrugged as he took another swig of his whiskey. "What is it, gods?" Zuchino asked with a chuckle.

"Yep." There was a slight pause before Zuchino's smirk dropped.

"Wait, gods?" Zuchino inquired before being handed a manila folder, filled with classified information for certain individuals only. "What is this?"

"It's called the Tesseract, something the government has experimented with in the hopes we could develop eternal energy from. It was taken by the Norse God, Loki."

"Loki?" Zuchino said before he sighed. "Figures, if Thor is real, would make sense his brother is too. So, what, you need me to help you get it back?"

"Not just you, but others with extraordinary abilities. We call it the Avengers Initiative." Fury explained; Zuchino continued reading through the files.

"Well, there's gonna be a problem with that: I work alone." Zuchino said as he slid the file back to the spy. "We Saiyans tend not to be team players with other races. I'll do this, but I'll do it alone."

"Good thing you owe us, so you'll join the team." Fury explained as he slid the file back to the glowering Saiyan. "This world needs you and them. Trust me, it won't be too hard to fight with them; they aren't ordinary humans." Zuchino sighed at the proposition before looking at the director and nodding.

"Okay, I'll look into it; how much time do I have before you'll need me?"

"We need you on a plane to New York City tonight."

"Why would you?"

"I have a certain someone I feel like you could help convince to join this mission of ours." Fury said, sliding another folder towards the Saiyan, as Zuchino gave him a questioning look before downing the rest of his whiskey. "Someone who you might be able to do relate to." Zuchino skimmed through the file before nodding. "I would suggest reading those documents beforehand though, he might be a hard one to convince."

"Okay, I'll do it." Zuchino said before he walked to his balcony. "Be sure to turn the lights out before you decide to leave." Zuchino commanded before opening the door. He produced a blue aura around him and blasted off towards New York.

* * *

Zuchino sat on the edge an apartment building's roof; the potential candidate Fury instructed him to meet with lived there. It was late, almost 1:30 A.M. at the moment. He'd arrived in the city within five minutes, but he spent the rest of the time reading the files Fury supplied him with on who he would be working with.

Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, the super-soldier who turned the tide of World War II for the allies. He presumed dead for decades after crashing a plane into the Arctic to save the United States. Sounded disgustingly noble, but who was he to judge?

Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, the billionaire weapons designer-turned-superhero. After constructing his suit of armor that gave him superhuman strength, energy attacks, and flight, he sought to help end the world's conflicts. But, according to Fury, he was also aggravating to work with and full of himself…well, let's just hope Zuchino doesn't destroy him before their mission is over.

Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk, the scientist infected by gamma radiation and turns into a raging green monster when he angered sufficiently enough. When he is a normal human, his file described him as one of the greatest scientific minds in the world. _He will be an interesting fellow to meet_ , the Saiyan thought to himself.

He also looked into the Tesseract, which he realized why he had an extreme case of déjà vu when Fury first mentioned the divine energy source. He'd heard of it from his father before his death; apparently, Freeza sought it in hopes of strengthening his army and possibly gain immortality but gave up after all the searches yielded zero results. Probably was for the best it emerged after he was dead.

Once he finished reviewing the files, he began his nightly meditating, sitting on the edge of the roof. He'd discovered the technique from the Namekians ages ago; it actually useful for clearing his mind, keeping the insatiable bloodlust of his Saiyan DNA in check, and perfecting ki control (which allowed him to sense other's ki signatures and mask his own down to almost nothing). He was also trying to detect the power level of Loki all night, to see if he could go ahead and end the battle already. But there was nothing. No abnormal power level on the entirety of the planet.

It was very strange; he could even feel out Thor's massive power level when he came to the planet. It was strange, but he gave up and assumed that Loki had some way of masking it. While unusual and a bit disconcerting, it actually excited Zuchino more. His Saiyan blood, after not fighting any opponents in over two years, craved the challenge of the unknown god.

The stairway door opened, knocking the Saiyan from his thoughts. Out walked Steve Rogers, his head down and hands in his pocket as he walked towards the ledge. He was far bigger in person than Zuchino would've believed, even bigger than the Saiyan in terms of musculature. Steve continued walking towards the ledge before he looked up to see Zuchino looking back at him.

"Oh, hi." He uttered, surprised that anyone knew how to reach the roof. He rubbed the back of his head in a shy manner before mentioning, "Didn't realize someone else came up here beside me."

"Eh, my first time up here." Zuchino shrugged, giving a small, but friendly smirk. "I've found it's easier to meditate when I'm outside and it's night."

"Well, forgive me for intruding, sir; I'll leave you to it." Rogers gave a small nod and wave as he turned to leave.

"Oh no, Captain America, you didn't intrude." He said with a small smirk as Steve closed the door and looked back at the Saiyan.

"How did you find me?"

"Oh, just through a mutual friend of ours, Nick Fury." Zuchino answered as he looked back over the horizon and close his eyes again. "I take it he came to visit you at the gym already?"

"He did, so what are you? His ace in the hole, just if I do not take the mission?" He inquired as Zuchino let out a small chuckle before turning to face the super soldier.

"No, the decision you make should be yours and yours alone, no one should coerce you into taking such a dangerous mission like this one." Zuchino explained. "But, in case you do decide to join, you're looking at your fellow 'Avenger.'"

"You're on the team as well?" Steve queried, more shock coming out than he would've preferred.

"You sound surprised."

"It's just, and I don't mean to offend you sir, but aren't you a little too young to be taking part in such a dangerous mission?" That made Zuchino laugh. Not chuckle, but actually let out a hearty laugh.

"Let me just assure you, Captain," Zuchino began before he appeared in front of Steve in an instant, easily shocking the super soldier, "looks can be deceiving these days." Zuchino chuckled as he crossed his arms and walked back to the ledge. "So, Captain, what do you think? Are you gonna help us or not?"

"I will help _get the Tesseract back_ ; it's far too powerful when left in the wrong hands." He answered specifically, thoughtfully avoiding the direct question.

"Good enough for me, you're free to do whatever you want. But if you wanna join me on the ledge, you can." Zuchino offered just as he sat back on the ledge full lotus-style. Steve thought for a second, wondering about the strange teenager. Curiosity beat it all, so he walked over and rested on the ledge beside the Saiyan, gazing into the night sky along with him. "Here's to hoping we can clean up this mess."

"Same here…I didn't catch your name."

"Zuchino." He said, noticing the glance Steve threw his way. "It's a long story."

"I've got time." Steve replied, making Zuchino chuckle before he looked down at him with an aside glance.

"Okay, where you do want to start?"

* * *

 ** _AN:_** Alright, yes. I did borrow the rooftop idea from BuffyL's Avenger story. It just felt natural that after Steve received the news from Fury, he would go somewhere he could be alone. But I have to give them credit for inspiring me to do this story. I also wanted to take this time to thank you guys for the support. Over 100 views in two days, this is easily one of my most successful stories already and I'm absolutely happy. So, sincerely, thank you.


	3. Helicarrier

**_Chapter 3: Helicarrier_**

* * *

Zuchino sat next to Steve on the plane as they flew over the Atlantic Ocean in a quinjet. They were both watching their own tablet that was playing videos of their teammates in action, as well as Loki. From what Zuchino could tell, Loki wasn't much of a hand-to-hand opponent (disappointing to say the least), rather he used his spear to not only fire off energy blasts, but brainwash those he touches with it to follow his command.

He cast a small glance to Agent Coulson in front of him, who speaking into his headphones. He and the jet arrived a couple of hours after Zuchino and Steve met. Neither of them got any sleep that night. They instead spent it on the roof, speaking about their past experiences and trading stories. Despite the many obvious differences, both men held very similar experiences: everyone they ever knew was gone and are stranded in an unfamiliar place. For the duo, it was comforting finding someone who could actually have empathy (however different the situations are) for his situation. It also helped that they found each other easy to talk with.

Zuchino, though he had developed small relationships with those who stayed in his apartment building, virtually either hated or hostilely ignored he came in contact with. Steve didn't even judge him for his background of planet-pillaging and the genocides he oversaw across the universe. Instead, he simply told him a bit of advice he'd picked up throughout the years, "When you're a soldier, you make a lot of decisions you're not proud of. It's best to not remember the faces but remember your survival."

"We're about five minutes out from the base, sir." The pilot informed as Agent Coulson looked over to give him a nod before walking over to Zuchino and Steve.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" Steve inquired, still looking down at his screen.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero." Coulson quickly explained. "Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula." Coulson further explained as a roar sounded through Steve's tablet.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, the guy's like a Steven Hawking." Both Steve and Zuchino gave Coulson a confused glance. "He's like a…smart person."

"Ah." Zuchino nodded. Even though he used the Internet to try to learn everything he could about Earth's culture and history, there were still references that evaded his mind.

"I gotta say…." Coulson started. "It's an honor to meet you officially. I've sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Coulson said, very oblivious to how creepy that sounded, but the snicker from Zuchino helped him realize. Steve just glanced down and looked away.

"Reel it in, Coulson." Zuchino advised with an amused grin on his face as Coulson blushed.

"I mean…. I was present while you were unconscious from the ice." Coulson stammered, trying to find a way to not sound like a creepy stalker. Steve looked over to the Saiyan with an "I can't believe this is happening right now" smirk as he stood up and walked over to look out the pilots to look outside of the window. "You know, it's really just a huge honor to have you on board this…." Coulson turned and looked at Zuchino. "To have both of you on board this…"

"I hope we're the right ones for the job." Zuchino said with a small nod, standing up behind them.

"Oh, I have no doubt in my mind that you both are." Coulson smiled at them. "Oh, um, we made some modifications to the uniform." Coulson said, earning a glance from Steve. "I had a little design input."

"The uniform?" Steve asked. "Aren't the stars and stripes a little old-fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening…and the things that are about to come to light…people might just need a little old-fashioned." Coulson said as Steve stared at him and gave a polite nod with a small smirk.

"Thanks."

"It was my pleasure." Coulson told him before looking back to Zuchino. "We've also come up with a uniform for you."

"From what?"

"The extra Battle Armor you had with you." Coulson reminded as Zuchino thought back and remembered: he gave S.H.I.E.L.D. the capsule containing his uniform for them to reverse engineer it for them develop armor for their soldiers and never gave it a second thought. "We designed it to be very similar to your regular armor, but it's far more powerful."

"Interesting." Zuchino said with a small smirk. "But if I hate it, I'll destroy you." The smirk quickly turned to a glare that made Coulson's smirk drop and gulp. Steve, now snapped from his thoughts, chuckled and looked out the window again.

Zuchino then looked past the frightened human to see the massive aircraft that was floating in the ocean.

"What is that thing?" Steve asked in awe.

"It's called a Helicarrier." Coulson said. "This one is the crown jewel, loaded with everything to make it a portable headquarters." He said before looking to Zuchino. "Bet you've never seen anything like."

Zuchino scoffed a sarcastic "Okay" before he went to gather his tablet and notes.

* * *

The jet landed lightly, different what Zuchino would've expected due to it being a jet, and the back opened similar to a cargo bay. Coulson led Zuchino and Steve to the exit to the waiting workers. "Stow the Captain and Saiyan's gear." He commanded the workers coming to greet them. They nodded before hopping into the jet. A woman with medium length red hair walked up to them from the side. Zuchino recognized her from his files as Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widow. One of the most formidable hand-to-hand combatants on the planet, not to mention one of the most renowned spies.

"Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers and Zuchino." Coulson said, introducing the duo.

"Ma'am." Steve greeted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Zuchino added with a small smile.

"You too." She greeted with a smile before facing Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the Face-trace."

"See you there." Coulson said as he walked away from them as the group began walking away from the Quinjet.

Natasha looked Zuchino up and down. "Yes?" Zuchino asked, giving her a small glance.

"You're a lot different than I expected." She said as Zuchino inadvertently let out a sigh. "A lot more human than alien."

"I get that a lot." He said with a small smirk.

"Sorry."

"It's all right, I'm used to it for now; I actually kinda take it as a compliment at this point. Now, if someone calls me small, they will be vaporized on the spot."

Natasha chuckled at the notion before looking at the Saiyan. "I like you." She looked up at Steve as they started to head in the same direction that Coulson had. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" Steve asked, thinking it was a joke.

"They're vintage, he's very proud." Natasha said, staring forward at another man, obviously nervous as hell and out of place, was walking around as other continued their duties around him.

"Dr. Banner." Steve greeted as it seemed to knock Bruce from his stupor, and he walked forward to shake Steve's hand.

"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Must be strange for you, all of this." Banner said, gesturing to everything going on around him.

Well, this is actually kind of familiar." Steve said as a group of soldiers jogged by in standard military fashion before Banner noticed Zuchino's presence.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners; Bruce Banner." Bruce said, sticking out his hand to Zuchino, who shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Banner; I'm Zuchino." He said as Bruce's smile dropped.

"Y-y-you're Zuchino?" He stammered out as Zuchino nodded. "But…you look so…"

"Normal?" Zuchino asked, already expecting it.

"Young." Well, that's a new one.

"Well, Saiyans maintain their prime longer than many other races. Someone who is quadruple my age would still look as young as me."

"Interesting."

"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute." Natasha cut in. "It's going to get a little hard to breathe." She warned as Zuchino chuckled.

"Doubt it."

"Not all of us can be galactic, overpowered aliens." Natasha quipped as Zuchino smirked back at her.

"Is this submarine?" Steve inquired, walking to the edge with others.

"Really?" Banner scoffed. "They want me in a pressurized, metal container?" Banner continued as he and Steve reached the edge of the ship to see a giant whirlpool right next to the ship. However, it was soon to revealed as a giant turbine on the ship once it started to lift from the ocean. The gusts of wind hit them at full force as Bruce chuckled, "Oh no, this is much worse." Once their awe subsided, they followed Natasha into the ship.

* * *

They made their way through into the mission control of the ship: a large room that contained a large window showing the outside of the room; down on the lower level were countless agents in blue suits huddled at their workstations, sounding out reports at random intervals. Fury stood at his station, interacting with the glass screens around him showing various things. Zuchino looked around the room before settling at the railing, leaning against it with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, feeling out for Loki one last time. Once the reflection panels were up, Fury turned to them.

"Gentleman." Fury greeted as Steve walked over to him and reached into his pocket. Fury stopped just as Steve pulled out a small wad of bills and handed him a $10 dollar bill. An amused smile crossed Fury's face before putting into his jacket and heading over to Bruce while Steve walked over to the window. Hill gave him a small glance before continuing with her task at hand.

"Doctor, thank you for coming." Fury said, extending his hand. Bruce gave a look before taking it.

"Thanks for asking nicely." Bruce snarked. "So, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Where are you with that?" Fury pointed over to Coulson, who looked up from a workstation.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet." Coulson informed while Steve walked over to him, listening and being hopelessly confused. "Cell phones, laptops, if it's connected to a satellite anyway, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not going to find them on time." Natasha said from a little ways away from where she was looking at a workstation screen.

"You have to narrow your field." Bruce instructed before turning to Fury. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Fury nodded and looked over at Natasha, who stood from the workstation she was watching. "Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?"

Natasha walked over. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

"Really, do you have the com-meter-64?"

Natasha blinked in confusion. "I'm not sure-"

Bruce patted her on the back and smiled, "It's okay, you're still young." With that, they disappeared into the hallway.

Fury walked over to the Saiyan, eyeing his stance. "Glad to have you on board, Zuchino." He said, deciding to mimic the Saiyan.

"Thanks, glad to be here." Zuchino said, not even opening his eyes.

"Anything?" Fury asked; he knew what the Saiyan was doing.

"No. Loki's ki is nonexistent; I can't get a lock." Zuchino sighed as he looked over to Fury. "Still though, this is a nice mission control you have." He said with a sincere smirk.

Fury chuckled. "I suppose not better than what you're used to?"

"Well, so far, I'm not being forced to bow down and call you Lord Fury yet, so I'll say it's a little better." Zuchino snarked as Fury chuckled. Steve joined the duo, leaning against the table as well. Fury gave a greeting look before he smirked.

"How are you two getting along so far?"

"Pretty decently." Steve answered as Zuchino nodded in agreement. "It's nice to find someone who doesn't make modern cultural references every five seconds."

"I try not to." Zuchino whispered as Fury nodded.

"I knew pairing you together would be for the best." Fury stated. "I also have full confidence that the both you will get the Tesseract back without major problems."

* * *

—Two hours later—

Zuchino hovered above the table, meditating once again. Many would stop and observe at the blue aura around his body before continuing to walk. Normally, he would meditate in a quiet area away from the humans, but Fury encouraged (ordered) him to remain in the room for when they pinpointed Loki's position. However, he was able to drown out all the sounds and talking around him. At least until he heard Coulson and Steve walk back into the room.

"I mean if it's not too much trouble." Coulson was saying.

"No, no." Steve reassured in his nice voice, despite how uncomfortable he felt. "It's fine."

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint. Slight foxing around the edges, but…." They both stopped at the sight of Zuchino hovering above the table and the glowing blue light surrounding his body.

"Whoa. Look at him, I bet he's in some sort of deep meditation." Coulson whispered Steve, who nodded before Zuchino opened his right eye and looked at them.

"Why yes, it was." Zuchino added as he hovered forward. Stepping down on the floor, he gave an aside glance. "Something I do at least twice a day; helps me keep my ki control and my personality in check."

"Personality?" Coulson inquired.

"My Saiyan bloodlust."

"Ah."

"We've got a hit." One of the agents chimed in as all attention turned to him. "67% match. Wait, cross-checking, 79% match." He informed as Coulson checked the location.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding." Coulson stated as Fury looked at Zuchino and Steve.

"Captain, Zuchino, you're up." He said as they both nodded as Coulson led the way to the armory.

"Let's get you two suited up." Coulson said.


	4. Saiyan Vs God

**_Chapter 4: Saiyan Vs God_**

* * *

Zuchino stood next to Steve on the plane en route to Germany with a small smirk planted on his face. Despite his prior objections, Coulson had actually designed a really nice piece of imitation Saiyan armor. It was nearly identical to his original model, the only difference being in the shoulder area. Instead of an actual armored section covering them, Coulson opted for two straps instead. It was black all around except for the red abdomen portion and shoulder straps.

The new black bodysuit covered his entire body from his neck to his ankles and the boots were similar to his boots, black with red tips, but they were far sleeker and tougher, made with the same heat-resistant material as his red fingerless gloves. He also made use of the latest scouter he swiped before coming to the planet. Instead of a small screen in over his eye, it was simply an earpiece that projected a hologram in front of his eye when it detected a power level.

"So, is that what you usually wore for the battles?"

"Something similar to this, yes." Zuchino answered, looking over to him. "It was the standard uniform for the PTO Army."

"Did it actually protect you?"

"Well, it never really was useful for Saiyan, given the fact we're impervious to a lot of conventional weaponry, but it did help against many bladed and piercing weapons that could pierce our bodies."

"What about for energy blasts?"

"Nope, totally useless. At most, their great asset was during the transformation into a Great Ape"

"Great Ape?" Steve asked, shooting a confused glance to Zuchino.

"Longer story."

"When will I hear about that one?"

"Later."

"You guys ready? We're almost at the drop point." Natasha cut in.

"We're jumping out?" Zuchino asked.

"Yep, landing would give away our position too soon." She explained, earning a nod from the duo. "You'll be pretty close to the ground though." The back of the plane opened and the two stepped to the edge.

"Need help?" Zuchino looked over at the super soldier.

"No, I think I can handle it." Steve assured as the Saiyan shrugged.

"Go!" Natasha signaled.

The two men jumped out of the plane dropped at least 60 feet. He landed with a thud in front of an older man, deflecting the bolt of energy from Loki with his shield back to the God of Mischief, knocking him to the ground.

Zuchino chuckled, lowering down next to Steve. He looked towards the people and gave them a nod to run. They heeded it immediately.

"You know," Steve said, walking slowly towards Loki, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." Steve referenced as Loki stood up, seething in rage.

"The soldier. The man out of time." He growled with a sarcastic grin. "And a Saiyan as well? I was led to believe you were all killed by Freeza when your planet was destroyed."

"Well, we Saiyans are a lot stronger than many would think. Care for an example?" A yellow aura began rising off Zuchino; the Qunijet appeared behind with its machine gun pointed directly at Loki.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." Natasha ordered over the loudspeaker. Loki discharged another blast of energy towards her, but she maneuvered out of the way.

Steve threw his shield in response, striking Loki square in his chest. Zuchino followed up with a dashing head-butt, sending the Asgardian skidding backward. Zuchino charged an energy blast in his right hand, but Loki fired a powerful blast from scepter at the Saiyan. It connected and blasted the surprised Saiyan into a nearby car.

Steve threw the shield again, distracting Loki before Steve caught it and landed a hard right hook, knocking Loki's head back. The Asgardian swung his scepter down to Steve, but he blocked it with his shield. Loki pushed up, knocking the shield from Cap's hands and slamming the butt of his scepter into Steve's stomach. Steve flew off to the side before correcting himself with a small flip.

Panting, Steve looked up and threw the shield at Loki, who easily knocked it to the ground. He failed to realize it was a distraction until the blue-gloved fist connected with his face. Loki twirled and tried to impale the super-soldier, but he bent backward and dodged it.

Standing back up, Steve landed another solid punch to Loki's side; Loki responded by smacking the human away with the scepter. Steve bent down on a knee and attempted to catch his breath but was surprised by Loki placing the blasting end against the back of his head. "Do you yield?" He growled.

"I'll let the Saiyan answer that." Steve responded as Zuchino appeared to slam his palm onto Loki's face and sent the deity stumbling back.

Dashing after him, Zuchino delivered a savage kick to the Asgardian's stomach, sending him tumbling backward. Loki corrected himself and fire another energy blast from his scepter at the approaching Saiyan. Zuchino easily swatted the blast into the air but took note of the strange burn it left on his flesh. The blasts didn't seem powerful enough to do that amount of damage on him. In his confusion, Zuchino left himself open to a charging shoulder from the God of Mischief. The Saiyan fell back slightly, but corrected himself and pulled his hand back, a ball of red energy sparking to life; Loki readied his scepter in response.

Before the two could fire, loud rock music from the Quinjet broke the fight. Suddenly, like a rocket from the sky, a blast of energy slammed Loki in the chest as Iron Man landed, his palms smoking from the blast. He looked at Loki and aimed his palm and rockets from his wrist and elbow at him with the intention to kill.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Iron Man stated as Zuchino and Steve over to him, Zuchino's hand glowing with red energy and Steve carrying his shield. His crown and scepter disappeared in a yellow glow before he slowly raised his hands. The arsenal disappeared from Tony as he lowered his arms. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Steve greeted.

"Captain." Tony replied before his head tilted to Zuchino. "ET."

"Tin Man."

* * *

In the Quinjet, Loki sat in the back, chained down to the floor and staring straight ahead. The trio of warriors stood over him, watching for his every movement. Zuchino continued trying to get out a feel for his power signature, but he felt nothing. Even his scouter wasn't picking up on anything. Natasha behind him was talking to Fury, informing him of the capture.

"Is he saying anything?" Fury asked.

"Nothing." Natasha answered.

"Zuchino, can you get any read on his power level?"

"No, it's like nothing's there." Zuchino answered, not taking his eyes off the deity.

"Just get him back here, we're low on time." He stated as the comms switched off. Steve took a glance back and muttered, "I don't like it."

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked.

"He's right, Asgardians don't go down without a fight; this was too easy." Zuchino answered.

"Still, you are pretty spry for a smaller fellow." Tony told them as both the men stared at him. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

"Incinerating annoying beings usually helps keep me going." Zuchino gave Tony an annoyed glare.

"What?" Steve asked, still confused about the word "Pilates."

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things…you know…doing time as a Capsicle." Tony implied, earning an even harder glare from both Zuchino and Steve.

"I don't recall Fury telling us you would coming on this mission with us, Mr. Stark." Steve noted.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Tony stated. Outside, a sudden cloud of lightning and thunder engulfed the jet, confusing the inhabitants.

"Where is this coming from?" Natasha asked. Loki broke his trance and looked around the ship in a mixture of anticipation and fear.

"What's the matter, afraid of a little lightning?" Steve inquired mockingly.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." He replied. Suddenly, the hologram screen of Zuchino's scouter appeared, warning of an approaching power level…and it was powerful. Any warning Zuchino prepared was stalled by the jet lurching down from whatever made the thud on top of the plane.

"What the hell?" Zuchino muttered as Tony grabbed his mask and Steve grabbed his shield. Walking forward, Tony walked to the control panel and opened the door.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zuchino questioned before the cause of their bump fell down on the ramp: a blonde, muscular man with an oversized hammer landed on the platform: Thor. Tony raised his arm to hit him with a ray before Thor knocked him away with his hammer, causing him to slide back to Zuchino's feet. Still, in shock, the trio watched as Thor ripped Loki from the bonds by his throat and jumped from the plane.

"Now there's that guy." Tony mumbled as he stood to his feet.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked.

"It's Thor." Zuchino said back.

"Think the guy's a friendly?" Steve questioned, looking over.

"Doesn't matter." Tony stated. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost." He explained as he turned to follow.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack; this guy is stupidly powerful!" Zuchino warned.

"I have a plan. Attack." Tony said before he blasted off after the Asgardians. Zuchino growled as a furious blue aura wrapped around his body.

"Kami-damned son of a bitch is going to get himself killed." Zuchino fumed as he dashed after him. He quickly caught up to Stark before he clicked on his scouter, scanning to find the previous power level.

"What does that do?"

"Let's me know if I can get a lock on this power level." Zuchino stated.

"Is it up for sale?"

"Not in your dreams." The scouter locked in on Thor's power level up.

"Down there on that mountain." Zuchino pointed as he and Tony flew downwards towards the man before Zuchino came out of nowhere, roundhouse kicking the Asgardian away from Loki down into the trees. He flew several yards away, through several trees before coming to a rest after skidding on his back. He stood to his feet, glaring at the Saiyan.

"Don't do touch me again, Saiyan." Thor warned, standing up as Iron Man came into view.

"Then don't take my stuff again, your highness." Zuchino warned, even doing a mock bow while glaring at the Asgardian.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with." Thor told them.

"Uh…Shakespeare in the park?" Tony sarcastically asked. "Does thou mother know you wear-th her drapes?"

"This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice." Thor explained.

"He gives up the cube, he's all yours. But until then," Tony said before his faceplate came down, "stay out of my way…tourist."

Both of the men began walking away before Thor threw the hammer at Iron Man and hit him squarely in the back, knocking Tony through a tree. Zuchino sighed before turning around, crossing his arms.

"Listen, I'm not in the best mood right now, so why don't you just..." The hammer slammed into Zuchino's chest, sending him flying through the three trees behind him. They all fell on top of the Saiyan, resembling a pile of broken matchsticks. Thor turned around to look for his adoptive brother before the trees behind him vaporized in a flash of yellow light.

Thor turned around to see the Saiyan stand up, looking very different. The most immediate change: his black hair was now golden blonde and stood on end, giving it a rising, flame-like appearance. His muscle tone was more defined and the skin tone was slightly lighter. Finally, a pulsing, flame-like aura engulfed in the Saiyan's body.

"Alright, you wanna fight," Zuchino said, his emerald eyes zeroing in on Thor while he cracked his neck, "let's fight." He shot forward, blasting a lot of debris back, and landed a fierce punch in Thor's jaw, sending the shocked Asgardian careening further into the forest. With Thor temporarily handled, Zuchino looked back to Tony with an annoyed look on his face.

"Go get Loki." He ordered; looking forward, he dodging the flying hammer sent from Thor and fired a golden ki blast in return. The hammer moved faster than the ki blast and Thor spun his hammer, shattering the ki blast and sending small bits of energy flying into the trees. One of Zuchino's eyebrows raised with interest before he dodged an uppercut and returned with a heel kick to Thor's gut.

Thor flew back but corrected himself in the air to knock the Saiyan away with a punch. Dazed, he failed to see the hammer heading directly towards him and slamming him down into the ground. Thor finished off with a savage punch down, but his fist traveled through the Saiyan's body. Confused as he watched it fade away, he didn't see the energy blast from Tony hit him from the side, exploding him forwards. Tony shot forward with a kick that knocked Thor away. He corrected himself and looked back to see Zuchino and Tony dashing towards him.

Ready for the duo, Thor quickly turned and slammed his hammer into approaching Zuchino's chin, sending him flying upwards into the air. He raised his hammer to the sky, lightning striking it. He blasted the energy towards Iron Man, stopping him dead in his tracks. Zuchino flung a blue ball of energy towards Thor, stopping the electricity before Iron Man fired both of his repulsors into the Asgardian's chest, flinging him backward as Zuchino rejoined Tony.

"You okay?" Tony asked.

"I've had much better." Zuchino said as he spat out blood. "How about you?"

"Same here." Tony said, nimbly dodging the flying hammer. He shot forward towards the Asgardian, delivering a savage headbutt. Thor looked at him before returning with a headbutt of his own, sending the human skidding backward on his back. Zuchino teleported next to him and threw a punch, but Thor grabbed it and swung him away. Zuchino reversed the trajectory of the swing, grabbing Thor and using the momentum to throw him to the ground, creating a large crater underneath. Zuchino aimed his palm down and began forming a pulsing ball of yellow ki.

"Stay down!" He called out before Thor grabbed his collar and slammed his head into the ground, expanding the crater even wider. Zuchino grabbed the Asgardian's hand and spun him before throwing him into the air and blasting off after him. Zuchino passed him in the air and fired off a beam of ki. Thor swatted it away and jumped higher into the air to deliver a hard hammer strike to the Saiyan's skull. Zuchino shot down to the ground like a golden bomb, exploding in a massive dust cloud.

Tony dashed forward and punched Thor in the back, sending the Asgardian towards the ground. Thor landed and moved slightly to the side, dodging the flying fist from Tony and grabbing his arm. He delivered a punch to the chest before raising the metal man above his head and slamming him down to the ground. He stretched his hand back and reclaimed his hammer. He brought the hammer down, aimed for Tony's head, but missed due to Tony blasting off.

"Hello," Zuchino appeared next to Thor, a ball of energy close to the Asgardian's stomach, "special delivery." The ki blast exploded, sending Thor soarings upwards before Tony blasted forward with a flying kick, knocking Thor into the ground.

"You know, we actually making a really good team." Tony stated as he landed next to Zuchino.

"No." Zuchino said before he dashed forward and was knocked away by a roundhouse kick to his jaw. "Kami-damn, that hurt." Zuchino muttered as he massaged his jaw while Tony charged forward as well before something hit him in the chest, stopping him.

"That's enough!" Steve scolded, reclaiming his shield before he jumped down. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here." He told to the Asgardian.

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" The Asgardian shouted back.

"Then prove it! Put the hammer down."

"Um, yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his ham-" Tony tried to warn before the Asgardian bitch-slapped him back.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" The Asgardian asked as he leaped into the air, hammer aimed for Captain, who instinctively raised the shield. The hammer struck as a shockwave roared through the area, forcing Zuchino to put an energy barrier around himself. When the dust cleared and revealed that none of the trees were still standing as the warriors stood to their feet as Zuchino lowered his barrier.

"Are we done here?" Steve asked to an agreed unspoken response between them.


	5. Suspicions

_**Chapter 5: Suspicions**_

* * *

Back on the Helicarrier, Zuchino, Steve, Thor, Bruce, and Natasha all gathered around the table in the bridge. Everyone's attention was on the table's surface, a video screen that projected the bay where they kept a large circular cage. It had reinforced steel and reinforced glass designed to sustain punches from both the Hulk and Zuchino. More than enough to keep Loki at bay. They pushed him inside and quickly closed it off; Fury walked into the room to the control panel.

"In case it's unclear," Fury began inputting a few commands in the panel, "if you try to escape, if you so much as scratch that glass…" A hole underneath the cage opened to the outside. "It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?" Fury pushed the button and the hole quickly resealed itself. "Ant. Boot."

Loki chuckled. "It's an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh, I've heard." Loki looked directly towards the camera as if he knew the heroes were watching him. Natasha looked at Bruce, but he made no sign of letting it get to him. "A mindless beast. Makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I?" Fury asked, stepping closer. "You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh…it burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract. To have power…unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded of what real power is."

Fury glared at him before giving a small smirk. He turned and walked away, adding "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something." With that, the feed cut off.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce asked sarcastically as Zuchino scoffed.

"Like a damn wart." Zuchino muttered.

"Loki's gonna drag this out." Steve stated, not skipping a beat. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri." Thor answered as Zuchino quickly looked. "They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army from outer space." Steve reaffirmed as all eyes went to Zuchino. "Ever heard of them?"

"Learned about them from Freeza; apparently he and his entire army had trouble dealing with them many times a little bit after I was born."

"Is that bad?" Natasha asked as Zuchino and Thor looked at her and gave a grave nod.

"For a long time, Freeza was the undisputed ruler of the universe. Few opposed him or even equaled him in power. Our people even had to craft a treaty with him to not touch Asgard or of the Nine Realms " Thor explained. "Those who did were either Gods, such as Beerus the Destroyer, his brother Cooler, or his father King Cold."

"Not to mention he had the Saiyan army with him at the time. If the combined power levels of the Saiyans, the Freeza Force, and Freeza himself couldn't defeat them, we're in for a special treat." Zuchino finished.

"Just how powerful are they?" Steve asked as Zuchino shook his head.

"What they lack in strength, they far exceed in numbers. It was almost a never-ending herd of them when the Force faced off against them. Because they fight a war of attrition, they were able to force the army back and ensure they never trifle with them again. I'm more powerful than Freeza, never mind any individual in his army, but facing a near infinite army can drain my power fast."

"What about calling in one of the people who could defeat Freeza?"

"It would not work." Thor stated. "Beerus is still napping and waking him would definitely lead to our destruction. Freeza's family still choose to follow the treaty, so I doubt they'll care about what fate befalls this planet."

"In fact, they may help once they realize the Saiyan that killed Freeza lives here and sell off the planet once everyone is dead." Zuchino added. "However, here is the biggest problem I have with Loki's plan: the Chitarui's known den is very deep in the Eastern Galaxy, farther than Planet Vegeta was and that alone is one-month trip minimum. And let's say they've been traveling this entire time, I would've picked up on their incoming power levels by now."

"So he's building another portal." Bruce concluded. "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor inquired.

"He's an astrophysicist." Bruce explained.

"He's a friend." Thor clarified.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha explained.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him." Steve thought out loud. "He's not leading an army from here."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki." Bruce weighed in, twiddling his fingers. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him." He said, making Zuchino crack a smirk.

"Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother." Thor quickly told them.

"He's killed eighty people in two days." Zuchino explained.

"He's adopted." Thor quickly clarified.

"I think it's the mechanics." Bruce said, snapping their attention away from Thor for the moment. "Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony said as he walked in with Agent Coulson before continuing. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He informed before he noticed Thor. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He stated, patting Thor's arm before continuing his walk to Fury's station. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants." He said before he looked around the room. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the topsails." He commanded as every worker stopped just to look at him with bemusement. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." He stated before covering his eye and looking at the programs. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns." Maria simply said.

"Sounds exhausting." He stated before continuing his hypothesis. "The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick-start the cube." He concluded while he looked through files on Fury's station.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asked.

"Last night." Tony answered. "The packet? Selvig's notes? The Extraction Theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need a specific power source?" Steve asked, trying to get back to the task at hand.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Bruce answered before Tony weighed in.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce finished.

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Tony said, gesturing towards Bruce as Zuchino and Steve looked at each other.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked as Zuchino shrugged.

"I've given up since Tony opened his mouth."

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner." Tony shook the doctor's hand. "Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." He added as Zuchino rolled his eyes.

"Thanks." Bruce replied uneasily.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury stated, walking to the table.

"Let's start with that stick of his." Steve suggested. "It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor asked confused.

"I do!" Steve and Zuchino both exclaimed as Tony rolled his eyes as Steve realized he said that out loud. "We understood that reference." Steve clarified as he and Zuchino exchanged a proud smirk and high-five.

"Shall we play, doctor?" Tony asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Let's play some." Bruce stated as they walked away to the lab as everyone remained at the table. Zuchino stood and walked over to Thor, his hand extended.

"No hard feelings?" He asked as Thor stared for a second and returned the handshake.

"None." Thor confirmed. "I must admit, I was quite envious of the Saiyan race and the raw power they possessed." He admitted; Zuchino looked forward, trying to hide his smirk.

"Thank you."

"I also extend my sympathy for your planet's destruction. I can only imagine what you've been through."

"Thank you again. Though it helped to kill the one who destroyed the planet." Zuchino shrugged.

"Wait, you were the one to defeat Freeza?"

"Yes, with the transformation I fought you with." Zuchino explained.

"Ah yes, the Super Saiyan legend?" Thor inquired as Zuchino nodded. "It was told that a legendary warrior defeated Freeza and brought a conclusion to his tyranny, but everyone believed it to be Beerus or the Supreme Kai; a Saiyan never crossed the minds of those who believed it. The universe has been in an uproar since; many planets have already escaped the Freeza Empire's grasp."

"I'm happy about that, hopefully, his Empire, as well as his father's, will finally crumble."

"I do as well, Zuchino." Thor said with a small smirk that Zuchino returned before they looked out the window into the night sky.

"But there has been something bothering me." Zuchino said as Thor looked over at him. "When I first learned of Loki's presence on this planet, I attempted to feel out his power level…but I felt nothing. So I assumed that maybe the legends were true and that you all were gods, but I felt your power and my scouter picked up on it."

"That is because of Loki's magic." Thor explained as Zuchino looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "He learned how to disguise his power from others and devices, keeping him undetectable."

"So it's not a form of ki control?"

"No, it is solely magical. We never found a way to command life energy the way Saiyans and other races do." Thor explained as Zuchino nodded.

"Why did you never learn it; I can imagine it would help in case you fought a Saiyan or the Ginyu Force."

"I never found it any use to me; I could take any Saiyan or any member of Freeza's army easily, therefore I was never in fear of my life." Zuchino nodded (though his ki had spike at the comment about Saiyans) and looked back towards the window, absorbing in the new, but useful information.

* * *

"So, how are you feeling?" Steve asked, looking over to his new partner. Zuchino gave him a curious glance; they'd been walking in comfortable silence to Bruce and Tony's lab since neither of them was particularly trusting of the billionaire being left alone with a man with severe anger issues.

"What makes you ask?"

"I was listening to you and Thor, can't help but think that dredged up some bad memories." Steve answered.

"It did." Zuchhino simply stated, giving Steve a small smirk. "But…it helps to know that Freeza's Empire is crumbling. Many of those populations' blood is stained across my hands and I'm happy they can reclaim some semblance of what they lost. It may never be okay, but without Freeza's overbearing presence over them, it'll only take time for him to become nothing but a nightmare." Zuchino affirmed, looking over at Steve. Steve gave a small smile of affirmation before they shifted back into a comfortable silence.

Up ahead, they heard Tony talking to Bruce, "Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No tension. No surprises." Steve and Zuchino walked in just as Tony jabbed Bruce with a small electric shocker.

"Ow!" Bruce exclaimed.

"Oh, damn it Stark." Steve muttered as he and the Saiyan walked up the desk.

"Nothing?" Tony asked in a bemused manner as he stared at the Saiyan.

"Are you nuts?" Steve questioned him with a hard glare.

"Jury's out."

"Fair enough." Zuchino muttered, rolling his eyes at the billionaire.

Tony kept staring at Bruce. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?"

"For Kami's sake, Stark." Zuchino scoffed. "Let him be. I personally would not like to have to face his green rage monster…no offense, Bruce."

"None taken." Bruce said with a chuckle. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut." Tony said, pointing at Bruce while walking in.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve glared at Stark.

"Do you think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony gestured at Bruce.

"Uh…." Bruce looked up from his work on Loki's staff with a confused glance. "I just want to finish my work here, and…"

"Out with it, Bruce." Zuchino demanded.

Bruce sighed and removed his glasses. "'A warm light for all mankind.' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube…"

"We heard it."

Bruce looked at Tony and told, "I think that was meant for you." Tony nodded in acknowledgment and passed on his small bag of blueberries. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the Tower, it was still all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Zuchino asked as he looked down to try to remember. "That big, ugly building in downtown New York City?" Tony gave the Saiyan with an insulted glare; Zuchino fired back a cocky smirk. "I'm not taking it back."

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source." Bruce said, breaking the tension between the two. "That building will run itself for, what, a year?"

"It's just the prototype." Tony said, rather proud of himself. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce asked as Tony nodded.

"What is S.H.I.E.L.D., an intelligence agency, doing in the energy business in the first place?" Zuchino added as Tony gave a nod and grabbed a tablet.

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files." Tony said, holding up a small, see-through tablet.

"I'm sorry, did you say…" Steve started.

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" Tony offered the food bag to the Saiyan.

"And this is why they don't trust you." Zuchino scoffed, accepting the bag.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?" Tony snarked as Zuchino. "Historically, not awesome. After all, how would you have felt if you were excluded from the loop in your former organization?" He inquired as Zuchino glared up at him.

"Well, they did decide to blow up my planet without my nor any other Saiyan's express knowledge, so I'd say that I've been there before."

"Which is why I'm surprised they'd have you around as well. Aren't you the least bit suspicious about working for organizations that give you limited knowledge since the Freezer Force?" Tony inquired as Zuchino had to suppress the urge to chuckle.

"One, Freeza Force; secondly, who said I wasn't?" Zuchino admitted as he gave the pouch back to Tony. "I've had my suspicions of S.H.I.E.L.D. since I met Fury; beings like him practically ooze secrecy and untrustworthiness from my experience. I wouldn't say he's as bad as Freeza, but there's definitely something to him and he's definitely hiding something from all off us, something big that he doesn't want us to know."

"You're more intuitive than I would've believed, Zuchino." Tony said with a nod of approval.

"Someday you'll reach my level, Stark." Zuchino replied.

"And sassy." Tony added, earning a chuckle from Bruce and an eye roll from the Saiyan.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up." Steve jumped in to steer the ship back on track. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony shot back, popping a blueberry into his mouth.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one of us is A, wearing a spangly outfit, and B, not of use?" Tony fired back, earning a smack in the back of the head from Zuchino. Tony winced and rubbed the back of his head while glaring at the Saiyan.

"Stop it." Zuchino scolded, even raising a finger to Tony's face, before turning to look up at Steve. "Steve, I have to agree with them on this; something is very off here."

"Just find the cube." Steve muttered before turning to the door and storming out. Zuchino sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to soothe an incoming headache from the turmoil among these humans.

"That's the guy that my dad couldn't stop talking about? I'm wondering if they should've kept him on ice." Tony muttered as Zuchino gave him a death glare, enough to stop Stark in his tracks.

"While I agree with your idea of Fury, I do believe he is still right about Loki's plans. Stop trying to unleash Bruce's rage monster and find the damn cube…and what S.H.I.E.L.D. is hiding." Zuchino growled before walking out of the room. He looked down the hallway to catch a glimpse of Steve.

Zuchino easily caught up with him and walked alongside him. Steve cast a glare that screamed betrayal and anger at the Saiyan before letting out a silent huff. "Can't believe you sided with him."

"I don't really like that the fact I had to, but I still agree: something is off here." Zuchino admitted as he looked over to Steve. "And I am open to being wrong; I'd prefer not to take down another organization that I've been a part of for some time."

"Well, if S.H.I.E.L.D. goes the way of the Freeza Force, then with Stark or not, I'll be on your side. I'm sure this will be nowhere near as hard as taking down the Freeza Force though."

Zuchino let out a small chuckle. "No. I don't think it will be either. Otherwise, we're going to need to go Namek." Steve stopped and gave the Saiyan a curious look. "Even longer story."

Steve shook his head. "You are one interesting egg." Zuchino lifted an eyebrow at him. "Man." He quickly amended, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry."

He smiled at him. "Egg?"

"It's what we used to call interesting men back in my day." Steve chuckled.

* * *

The duo reached a reinforced metal door labeled "Secure Storage 10-C." They had to zip past many guards, but that's what Zuchino's sub-sonic speed was handy for.

"How do we get in there?" Zuchino wondered out loud as he stared over to the side to see a keypad. "Well, that's unfortunate." He stepped back and raised his hand, red ki gathering to create an energy ball.

"Wait!" Steve whispered as loud as he could, stopping the Saiyan. "There's a better solution that doesn't involve completely destroying the door." He walked over and pulled on the grooves of the door. In a moment, the bolts broke and the door easily slid open.

Zuchino gave him an approving smirk that Steve received. After ensuring no guard heard the sounds of the door opening, they crept in and quickly shut it behind them. Inside were many silver storage containers stacked even across the walkways in the giant room. Zuchino and Steve both held their breath when they heard someone talking near them, but it quickly faded away. Steve hopped up and pushed his feet off the storage containers to the walkway while Zuchino simply floated up.

They continued down the walkway until they reached a small section of crates that was labeled as "PHASE II."

"Fury told me that the Avengers Initiative was PHASE I." Zuchino muttered as he opened the door and quickly closed it behind him. "I wonder what the next phase is."

"Only one way to find out." Steve muttered as they nodded.

* * *

—The Next Morning—

Once they finally finished opening the boxes in that one section that extended far larger than they thought (Zuchino would have to apologize for the wall destruction later), they finally hit the payload. The two boxes they opened contained a helmet and weapons, both marked as PHASE II. On it was a strange logo of a squid merged with a skull.

"What the hell is that?"

"That's the H.Y.D.R.A. symbol." Steve muttered to himself before he noticed Zuchino's strange expression.

"You have hydras on this planet?" Zuchino asked in confusion.

"No, H.Y.D.R.A. was an organization I battled before I was frozen. They were a part of Nazi Germany."

"Oh, with Hitler." Zuchino muttered.

"Yeah, they were fixated on the idea of conquering the world and subjugating the human race for their own good. Why the hell would S.H.I.E.L.D. use these unless…" Steve trailed off once he had an epiphany. "They're powered by the goddamn Tesseract. That's PHASE II."

"Goddamn Fury, he doesn't know what he's dealing in." Zuchino growled as he snatched the helmet and guns. "Come on, I need to have a few words." Steve nodded as they stormed from the safe room.


	6. Angry Green Giant

_**Chapter 6: Angry Green Giant**_

* * *

Fury stormed into Bruce Banner's lab, glaring at Tony and Bruce sitting down and staring at a screen. "What are you doing, Mr. Stark?"

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony replied evenly.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are." Bruce fired back. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce explained, pointing over to his computer doing the research

"Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss." Tony said before a file popped up on the clear screen in front of him. "What is 'Phase 2'?"

With what could only be dramatic timing, Zuchino and Steve stormed in as well carrying the HYDRA weapons they'd discovered in the bowels of the Helicarrier. Zuchino, glaring at Fury, slammed his weapon down on the table and said, "Phase 2: S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Tesseract, an artifact far beyond any Earthling's understanding, to make weapons."

Steve looked over at Tony with a small nod. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for us."

"Rogers, Zuchino, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." Fury said. "This does not mean that we're making…."

"I'm sorry, Nick!" Tony cut in, turning his monitor around to show weapon blueprints that described using the Tesseracts's power to create missiles. "What were you lying?"

"I was wrong, Director." Steve said as Thor and Natasha joined them. "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Bruce looked over at Natasha, obviously confused about what was happening. "Did you know about this?"

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" Natasha recommended, moving closer.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I batted my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." Bruce fired back before he pointed to the screen. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Yes, I would also like to know why as well." Zuchino crossed his arms and glared at Fury. "Fury, explain…now!"

"Because of you two." Fury pointed at Thor and Zuchino.

"Us?" Thor asked.

"When Zuchino arrived, we learned that there are beings on this universe that are able to destroy our planet and they may or may not know where we live. Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We not only learned, but we were shown that we are not alone and we are hopelessly...hilariously outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor countered.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? Just from Zuchino's knowledge, we learned about the Planet Trade Organization and other organizations that would come to this planet and kill us all."

"Don't bring that into this." Zuchino shot back. "Most of the organizations that I know of are nowhere near powerful enough to defeat me at normal power, let alone a Super Saiyan. I explained that to you countless times."

"And what if you were to turn on us?"

"Me?"

"You were a planetary threat to many during your time with the Freeza Force. How do I know that you never intended to come here with the intention of destroying us?"

"How dare you." Zuchino growled, a faint aura forming around him. "I've told you I came here to escape the Planet Trade Organization, but I would defend your world in exchange for asylum. If I wanted to destroy Earth at any point during these two years, don't you think I would've done it already?"

"You still need to be monitored; you may even need to be controlled." Zuchino let out a laughing scoff at the proposal.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve cut in, defending his ally.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki and all of his allies to the planet." Thor added. "It is a signal to everyone, from the Freeza Force to Loki, that the Earth ready for a higher form of warfare."

"A higher form?" Steve asked.

"That Earth is ready to become a part of the universal order; something that, judging from the fact Fury viewed me as a threat, is far and beyond from the truth." Zuchino explained.

"You both forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury explained.

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony deduced. "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you got so rich, Stark."

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep…" Steve started.

"Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony cut in.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve shot back.

"Don't start this again." Zuchino warned, glaring at the both of them.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor expressed with a glare.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury barked back.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust." Thor criticized.

"Are you boys really that naïve?" Natasha hopped in. "S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors potential threats."

"Captain America's on threat watch?" Bruce asked in disbelief.

"We all are!"

"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony asked Steve. "Are you above or below angry bees?"

"Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…" Steve growled.

"Threat! Verbal threat! I feel threatened." Tony called out.

"Show some respect!" Steve barked back as Tony gave him a bemused glare.

"Respect what?" Tony questioned.

"HUMANS!" Zuchino bellowed with a flare of his golden aura, stopping the mass arguing with one fell swoop. "You can blather of your control from now to the heat death of the universe Fury, but all I'm seeing is chaos." Zuchino fired at Fury.

"That's his MO, isn't it?" Bruce prodded as all eyes turned to him. "I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away." Fury said.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Tony questioned, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"You know damn well why. Back off!" Steve slapped Tony's arm from him with a glare.

"I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony threatened.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor." Steve stated, walking around Tony while a looking down at him. "Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony retorted, turning to glare at Steve in his eyes.

"Now is not the time." Zuchino barked, snapping his head towards them. However, he was ignored as Steve took a step closer to Tony.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play…to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony suggested as Steve gave a sarcastic smile while looking away.

"Always a way out. You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Tony said getting closer.

"Guys!" Zuchino growled, his aura slowly fading into view around him as his jaw clenched.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve suggested, shoving Tony's shoulder.

"I won't even need the suit; I'll kick your ass right here." Tony retorted before pushing Steve's shoulder and Zuchino could see the fists of both men tighten.

"Damn it, I said fucking STOP!" Zuchino roared, telekinetically gripping the two men and throwing them to opposite sides of the lab. Everyone was staring at him in shock. "Can we stop this dumb dick-measuring contest and recognize that we may be in serious danger? If Loki is trying to get Bruce to transform, then Bruce should not be here right now. "

Fury nodded in agreement. "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his…."

"Where?" Bruce quipped. "You rented my room."

Fury said, "The cell was just in case…."

"In case you need to kill me. But you can't. I know. I tried." Everyone in the room was dead silent at the admission. Even Bruce was silent as he tried to figure it out. "I got low; I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on, I focused on helping other people. I was good…until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?"

Natasha's and Fury's hands went down to their guns while a red ball of ki sparked to life in Zuchino's hand. "Bruce…" Zuchino warned. "Please put down the scepter." As Bruce looked down at it in his hand and started to calm down, the computer began a frantic beeping.

"Got it." Tony confirmed.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my little party trick after all." Bruce muttered as he walked over to the computer. Zuchino followed him over to it and watched as the scientist input commands.

"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I can get there faster." Tony challenged as Zuchino let out a loud "Hah."

"I'm fastest." He stated, waiting for the coordinates.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard," he informed, "no human is a match for it."

"Which qualifies me even more." Zuchino stated as Bruce pulled out the coordinates, leaving the duo stunned. Tony turned to leave before Steve grabbed his arm, stopping.

"You're not going alone." Steve said.

"Guys." Zuchino muttered.

"You're gonna stop me?" Tony asked.

"Guys." Bruce tried.

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve demanded as Zuchino's jaw clenched.

"Guys." He said a bit louder, gaining everyone's attention, except Steve and Tony.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony warned.

"Put on the suit." Steve repeated before a ball of ki flew between them, gaining their attention.

"What the hell was that for?" Tony asked angrily, looking back at the Saiyan.

"Can we focus?!" Zuchino shouted just as an explosion rocked the Hellicarrier jerked. The fire erupted from the floor, throwing everyone back. Natasha and Bruce fell through the front window. Fury and Thor both fell to the side while Zuchino, Steve, and Tony fell in a heap other near the door. They were the first ones to rise and quickly examined the situation.

"Put on the suit." Steve commanded.

"Yep." Tony agreed Zuchino and Steve followed him out of the door.

"Hill!" Fury's voice sounded through their earpieces as the trio continued their way down to the armory.

"External detonation. Number three engine is down!" Maria explained. Can they get it running? Talk to me?"

"Turbine looks mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air."

"If we lose one more engine, we won't be." Maria said gravely. "Someone's gotta get out there and patch that engine."

"Stark, you copy that?"

"I'm on it." Tony answered as they finally reached the armory. After moving through the crowd of panicked workers, they finally managed to get to the room Tony's suit was being held at.

"Zuchino, I need help down here!" Natasha's voice rang through their earpieces. The trio exchanged a look, shocked that someone like Natasha would sound off for help, let alone that panicked.

"What's going on?" Zuchino asked, confused. An animalistic roar that echoed across the ship gave him the answer. "What the fuck is that…" Then he remembered: Natasha was standing next to Bruce and they both disappeared through the window. "Fuck, I'm on my way." He radioed back before he looked to the duo.

"Do not kill each other." Zuchino commanded to a curt nod from both of them before he zipped off.

* * *

After using his scouter to locate the largest energy signature on the ship, Zuchino zipped down to the end of a glass corridor filled with tanks. He heard another roar and turned to see Natasha running down the corridor of glass, the Hulk following closely behind. Zuchino put his hands in front of him, transforming into his Super Saiyan state as a yellow ball of ki quickly sparked to life in his hands.

"Get down!" He shouted to Natasha, who finally saw him and fell to the ground. He fired the beam of ki, that connected with the charging Hulk and blasted him back through a wall. Zuchino flew forward and looked down at Natasha.

"You okay?"

"I'll live." She said as she accepted the hand to get up. Once she was standing, Zuchino zipped through the hole into the indoor hangar. The Hulk stood and glared at the Saiyan with unbridled fury. They circled each other slowly, waiting for one to make the first move. The Hulk decided to act first and reared his fist back for a punch. Before the monster could even throw it forward, Zuchino fired a red ball of ki towards the Hulk. Instead of exploding, it encapsulated the green monster within it and kept him still.

"We are not your enemies, Banner! Try to think!" Zuchino says before the Hulk burst from the energy ball and savagely punched the shocked Saiyan into a stack of concrete blocks. The Saiyan sat up and wiped the blood from his lip.

"Do all you can do to contain him, but do not kill him." Fury told him through the scouter.

"Copy that." Zuchino said as he emerged and transformed as Thor came from the hole. "Come to help?"

"I thought you may need help." Thor said as he raised his hand and waited while the Hulk began charging towards him from behind. Suddenly, his hammer flew straight into his hand, allowing him to uppercut the Hulk. Zuchino fired a beam of energy into his chest, sending him careening back into the jets in the room. Standing next to each other, they gave a nod before they began running towards the monster.

The Hulk ripped off the right wing of the plane and flung it at them, but Zuchino flung two fingers up, firing an energy wave that sliced the wing in half. Thor threw the hammer towards Hulk, who caught it and was flung back. The Hulk tried to stand up, but his hand was weighed down by the hammer.

Noting that he could lift it off, he began pulling on it to lift it off the ground. His efforts were stopped by Zuchino kneeing him in the face and spin kicking his chest, skidding the monster back. Thor hopped on his back and wrapped his arms and hammer across the monster's neck to subdue him. After flinging him off failed, the Hulk hopped up to the next level.

Zuchino zipped up, but the Hulk grabbed him and slammed his back against the desk, knocking the breath from the Saiyan's lungs. After throwing him down to the ground, the monster finished his assault by harshly kicking him away in the chest, breaking a few ribs. Zuchino flew through the air before rolling on the ground as his transformation cut off. He tried to stand, but the searing pain that shot through his lungs told him not to. He looked over to the Asgardian, but the Hulk threw him next to the Saiyan as well. A jet hovered behind the approaching Hulk before it began opening fire, but seeming to do no damage. Zuchino raised arms, creating a shield in front of himself and Thor.

The Hulk roared before jumping from the window and slamming into the front of the plane, ripping out several of its inner machines before the pilot tried to eject before the Hulk grabbed him. Zuchino fired a beam of energy from his finger, hitting the Hulk and making him throw the pilot away and his seat parachute ejecting.

Both he and Thor looked at each other and sighed a breath of relief.

"Go make sure your brother stays in his cage; I'll go to mission control." Zuchino commanded as Thor nodded and they went their separate ways.

* * *

Zuchino walking through the hallway, energy in his hands. He came to a large number of mooks in the hallway, gathering to possibly discuss their next plan. At the sight of the Saiyan, they opened fire on him…only to watch the bullets simply bounced off the Saiyan. They stopped as the Saiyan gave a deadly smirk.

"My turn." He traced his finger horizontally in the air, creating a line of greenish-blue energy. Once it was within the position, he flung his arm in the opposite direction. The line of energy shattered, sending shards of ki slicing into the group. They were still for a few seconds before they fell apart in pieces. He atomized the remains with a ki blast before continuing forward. When he finally entered the control room, he walked over to Maria, being attended to by a medical aid.

"Looks like you need it as well." Maria said as he shook his head.

"I'll be fine, I've been through worse than this." Zuchino muttered.

"Agent Coulson is down." Fury stated through Zuchino's earpiece. Maria waved the aid away as she and Saiyan exchanged a look.

"A medical team is on its way to your location." A voice reassured.

"They're already here…they've called it."


	7. The Party

**_Chapter 7: The Party_**

* * *

A/N: So, it's been a small while. My computer screen was broken, and I had to send it off. Thankfully, it was finished so I took this weekend finishing off this story. I also combined what was supposed to be the next two chapters into one for two reasons: 1, I really couldn't find a point to break it without breaking the action for no real reason, and 2, I wanted to give you guys an extra-long chapter in thanks for waiting. Make sure to read the A/N at the bottom, it contains answers to the questions left by reviewers and the info about the next story in the Zuchino series. Enjoy!

The control room's lights were off. It fit the solemn atmosphere that stretched across the entire Helicarrier. Steve, Zuchino, and Tony all sat at the table, looking down. Fury stood in the front, looking down at something in his hands. Maria stood off the side, quiet as well. Steve had removed the top of his uniform while Zuchino remained in his cracked armor. Both looking down at the table with a somber glance. Tony sat next to the Saiyan, looking away from the group.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury finally spoke, not looking up from what he was seeing. "I guess he never did get you to sign them." He tossed the bloodstained Captain America trading cards on the table, in front of Steve. Steve looked down and picked one up to examine it.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications…the location of the cube…Banner…Thor…I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Fury mused as he began walking to the trio. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea…Stark and Zuchino know this…called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea…in heroes." Tony stood up and his eyes shifted before walking from the room. "Well, it's an old-fashioned notion."

Steve put down the card and looked over at Fury. "Well, I once heard a wise man say that sometimes old-fashioned can be what we need." With that, he stormed away as well. Zuchino took one last solemn glance at the cards and followed the super soldier.

* * *

The trio all ended up in the containment area where Loki had dropped Thor from the Helicarrier and killed Coulson. Zuchino walked over to the billionaire, after briefly glancing at the giant hole ripped into the metal wall. He walked up and stood next to the billionaire. "You ok?" Tony said nothing in turn, the look he gave the Saiyan said everything.

Steve stood on the other landing and leaned against the railing. "Was he married?"

"No." Tony said. "There was a cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."

Tony scoffed and looked over at the soldier with an annoyed glare. "He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?" Zuchino inquired as Tony started back up.

"For taking on Loki alone." Tony stated with a shrug.

"He was doing his job." Steve fired back.

"He was out of his league. He should've waited. He should've…"

"Sta-Tony, there are times you will have still have to fight, even if you know you going to lose." Zuchino responded, looking at the billionaire.

"Right, I've heard that before." Tony scoffed off the Saiyan's comments and began heading towards the door.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked, looking over at him.

"We are not soldiers." Tony snarled at the implication. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither are we." Zuchino said, making his way over to them. "And if you ask me, Fury's got Coulson's blood on his hands just like Loki does. But right now, we need to get past that and finish this."

Steve moved up behind Zuchino. "Loki needs a power source. If we put together a list…."

"He made it personal." Tony interrupted.

"That's not the point."

"That is the point. That's Loki's point, he hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart."

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants."

Zuchino caught on to what Tony was saying. "He wants the credit and, to get that, he needs an audience. The entire world has to see him defeating us." He turned to Steve. "Just like Germany."

"That was just previews. This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…" Tony paused as the realization hit him. "Son of a bitch."

* * *

Zuchino and Steve walked down the hallway to the medical wing. Deciding not alert Fury and possibly hinder their response time, they began heading to Barton's room in the medical wing. Tony had gone to repair his suit as much as he could within the lab. As much as Zuchino wouldn't mind flying there with Steve in tow now, Steve convinced him that they'd need a pilot for the quinjet and the best one they knew so far was Natasha. She had been with her good friend, Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye, once she broke him from Loki's grasp, hopefully helping through it. Once they found the room, Steve pushed the button and the door slid open.

"Time to go." He announced as Natasha looked back at them.

"Go where?"

"We'll tell you on the way. Can you fly those jets?" Zuchino asked.

"I can." Clint answered, emerging from the bathroom with a towel in his hand. Steve and Zuchino looked over to Natasha, who confirmed what they were thinking with a nod. They looked back to him and Steve asked, "You got a suit?"

"Yeah."

"Then suit up, we're leaving in fifteen." Zuchino said as they left the room.

"How do you think this battle will go?" Steve asked as they continued to the hangar.

"If we don't make it in time to stop Loki from opening that portal, we have a nigh-infinite armada heading towards the planet that the likes of Freeza couldn't defeat…eh, I've faced worse odds." Zuchino said with a small smirk.

* * *

Zuchino sat in the back of the ship, meditating and trying to collect his ki. It was all he could do to try to make sure his ki was at the highest amount for this battle. It had been a very long time since he had to possibly fight in his Super Saiyan state for an extended period of time and, as of such, it was a real drainer on his ki. However, the sound of his scouter beeping broke him from his concentration. Steve looked over as well when the hologram appeared in front of the Saiyan's eye.

"They're here." Zuchino said, noticing the large cluster of power levels forming around New York City.

"Stark failed?"

"Doubt there was anything he could do; no doubt Loki prepared for us to find out about his plan." Zuchino muttered as he sighed. "Oh well, I kinda expected this would happen."

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast." Natasha radioed.

"What? Did you stop for drive-through?" Tony quipped over the radio. "Swing up Park. I'm going to lay them out for you; Zucchini, I may need your help."

"I hate you, Stark." Zuchino muttered as he pressed the button to lower the ramp. Quickly transforming, the Saiyan shot out of the jet with great speed, quickly catching up to the billionaire. He turned to see a dozen Chitauri troops heading towards them. Spreading his fingers, each shot a red beam of energy towards them and piercing their bodies. Just as Tony was going to congratulate the Saiyan, he looked up to see a giant creature fly through the portal. It looked very similar to a giant worm, but its body flopped through the air like a fish in water.

"Oh, damn it." Zuchino muttered as he watched more Chitauri troops climb off the body and hop into windows of buildings.

"Any idea what that is?" Tony asked, still in shock.

"I believe it was called a Leviathan." Zuchino stated before the two looked over at each and exchanged a slight nod before taking off after it.

"Guys, are you seeing this?" Steve radioed in their ears.

"Seeing." Tony replied. "Still working on believing."

"Welcome to my world, everyone." Zuchino said.

"Your world is terrifying." Natasha came in through the comms.

"Tell me about it."

"Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?" Stark asked as Zuchino looked over at the billionaire, a bit confused. He thought Banner was lost after the assault on the Helicarrier.

"Banner?" Steve inquired.

"Just keep me posted." Tony said as they began to fly parallel to the giant alien. "Jarvis, find us a soft spot on it." He commanded as Zuchino vaporized a few more Chitauri troops in the air before Stark gestured to him.

"I have an idea, follow me." He said before boosting his speed, prompting the Saiyan to do the same. Once they were a comfortable distance in front of it, they flew back and, at Tony's cue, fired a mixture of ki blasts and ammunition at the giant creature. It roared at the minor explosions around it, but it seemed to do no damage. It did, however, give the beast a target; it sideswiped a building and causing the debris to rain down on the pedestrians below as it turned to them.

"Well, we got its attention by annoying it." Zuchino quipped as he looked over at the billionaire. "What is step two of your bright idea?"

"Flying away like hell." Tony muttered before they sped away, the creature following behind them, along with a few of the gliders.

"What's the story upstairs?" Captain America asked over the comms.

"The powers surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor informed them.

"Thor is right." Tony confirmed. "We gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team."

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor growled.

"Yeah, get in line." Clint chimed in.

"Save it." Steve instructed. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got Stark and Zuchino up top, they're gonna need us…" Steve was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a moped.

"So, this all seems horrible." He heard Bruce say through the radio.

"Seen and fought worse, much worse." Natasha responded.

"Sorry."

"No. We could use a little worse." She told him.

"Stark? We got him." Capt. informed them.

"Banner?" Tony asked.

"Just like you said."

"Well tell him to suit up. We're bringing the party to you." Tony said as he and Zuchino changed direction and began heading towards them. After rounding the corner, the giant alien worm plowed through the building next to it and began heading towards the group. The duo moved closer to the ground, bringing the Leviathan down to ground level. Countless car and street poles were crushed in the charging creature's path.

"I... I don't see how that's a party…" Natasha muttered before Bruce began walking towards the creature, currently on the ground.

"Dr. Banner. Now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Steve informed.

"That's my secret, Captain," Bruce said, turning back with a smirk, "I'm always angry." With that, he once again began growing and turning green as he clenched his fist before hitting the snout of the creature head-on, stopping it in its tracks and flipping it, causing most of its outer shell to fall off, revealing soft spots.

"There," Tony commanded as he aimed at a revealed soft spot that Zuchino spotted and fired a yellow ball of ki into it just as Tony fired a missile into it. Zuchino put a shield around him and the billionaire just as the alien exploded, its severed head falling off the elevated highway. The creatures across the buildings all screamed at the loss of their massive weapon as Hulk roared, satisfied with its kill and everyone gathered in a circle to watch them. Natasha looked up at the portal and said, "Guys." They all looked up to see several Leviathans pouring through the portal.

"Oh, they've upgraded." Zuchino muttered.

"Call it, Captain." Tony said.

"All right," Steve began, "listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything; call out patterns and strays. Stark, Zuchino, you two got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

Barton looked at the two warriors. "Can you give me a lift?"

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Tony grabbed Clint and flew off to the roof of one of the buildings.

Zuchino powered up, his yellow aura reappearing around his body, and took off. He quickly found a cluster of Chitauri scaling a building. Speed being his advantage, he practically teleported in front of the group and grasped nearest one by the neck. Before it could even let out a strangled cry, Zuchino fired a ki beam, effectively decapitating the warrior. He let the head and body fall down the side of the building while looking at its shocked friends with a bloodthirsty smile.

"Going somewhere?" He said before he flew forward and delivered a fist to one's face that caved its skull in, a roundhouse kick that shattered another sternum, and fired a kiai from his body, propelling the remaining three warriors down into the ground like a meteor, crashing into the sidewalk and kicking up a medium-sized dust cloud. Staring into the dust cloud, the Saiyan slowly came to his senses. "Welp, my bloodlust is back." He looked up to see creatures flying towards him and firing countless energy blasts from their blasters.

"Oh, you pathetic little creatures." Zuchino said as he raised his hand and charged a black ball of ki, accented by the red lightning crackling off both it and the Saiyan himself. The creatures, finally realizing their grave error, tried to turn back before the energy ball was ready. "Zenoshock!" His voice practically echoed before the black beam of energy screamed to the aliens, quickly vaporizing them and any other creature in its path. He quickly turned the beam upwards towards the portal and, once close enough, detonating it and sending a massive explosion into space. However, despite what he wanted to believe, the explosion didn't even make a dent according to the readings from his scouter.

Letting a disappointed sigh escape his lips, he took off and found a few more troops flying past the perimeter. He zipped over to them with an incredible amount of speed and spun kicked a gliding Chitauri down to the ground, exploding him. Letting a disappointed sigh escape his lips, he took off and found a few more troops flying past the perimeter. He zipped over to them with an incredible amount of speed and spun kicked a gliding Chitauri down to the ground, exploding him. Not missing a beat, he delivered a right hook to another glider, slamming him into a building.

With two more left and heading towards him, he flicked his finger towards them. The two gliders looked confused for a second from the lack of a ki blast…before they noticed they were glowing pink. Letting out one more scream, they exploded in a scarlet and black explosion. Zuchino gave a small smirk at his handiwork before charing aura around him yet again and dashing back into the perimeter.

He soon found himself flying next to Natasha, who using a dead Chitauri's glider to navigate across the city.

"How do you like my new ride?" She asked as he landed on it and fired a beam of energy at the following Chitauri gliders.

"I think it suits you." He answered as he jumped off and flew into the air.

He noticed a Leviathan gliding through the city; he dashed towards the beast. He quickly got in front of it and blasted it in the eyes, blinding it the creature. Giving a deadly smirk, his fist was quickly consumed in yellow ki. He dashed forward and, with a primal roar, delivered all of his strength into a singular punch to its head. The Leviathan's head blew apart from the force of the kinetic energy and its headless corpse began to coast down to the ground.

Zuchino dropped down to the ground and quickly began charging his ki, the golden aura blazing around him like fire. Once he gathered enough energy, he raised his hands. A golden ball of ki quickly sparked into existance, bio-electricity crackling around the Saiyan and the area.

"Solar Bomb!" Zuchino roared, firing off the powerful beam towards the creature. Crashing into the creature, it easily carried the creature's body into space. Zuchino quickly dissipated the beam and took a deep breath. He was getting ready to launch off when roars behind grabbed his attention. He turned to see a small army of Chitauri warriors forming, ready to take down one of the biggest threats to them while it appeared that he was vulnerable.

"Haven't you all learned to not underestimate Saiyans yet?" He smirked before his aura burst around him, shattering the road underneath his feet. "I'm just getting started."

"Need some help?" Steve asked as he ran to stand next to his ally's side.

"I got it, but I'll never turn down a hand." Zuchino said before he looked at Steve with a smirk. "Let's do this."

* * *

"Captain, Zuchino, the bank on 42nd, past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there." Clint warned as they looked at each other and nodded.

"On it." Zuchino radioed back, squeezing the neck of the Chitauri warrior until it broke. He dropped the alien before grabbing Steve and blasting off as Steve delivered the directions. When they arrived, Zuchino threw Steve into an open window and circled back. By then, Steve had already taken one out and he'd taken shelter behind a desk. They didn't even see the Saiyan enter before spin-kicking a troop off the balcony into the crowd.

"Everyone, clear out!" Zuchino ordered to the terrified citizens down below before one of the aliens grabbed him a headlock. Bad move. He flared out his aura, vaporizing the alien before he finally took note of the constant beeping. He was unable to find out the source before an alien slashed his cheek with its blade. Grabbing his injured face, he kicked the alien into the wall and sent an energy wave into its broken body. The beeping grew more rapidly while a troop grabbed at it, trying to throw it. Steve hid behind his shield while Zuchino dashed towards the super soldier, intent on creating an energy shield. He didn't get the chance before a blinding bluish-white of pain engulfed him and blasted both the warriors out of the window.

Steve fell into a car nearby while the explosion blasted Zuchino into another car, which imploded around the Saiyan on impact. Steve hobbled off the car and looked at the waitress he had just talked with (and wanted to get to know) carried out, looking over at him. He gave her a small smile, one she reciprocated before she disappeared into the military vehicle.

As soon as eye contact broke, Steve realized he wasn't the only one to be caught in the explosion. He looked over to find where his friend landed, but the crumpled taxi gave off enough of a hint. He jogged over, the pain of landing disappearing for the second.

"Zuchino!" He called before the metal began to shift and the Saiyan pulled himself out. Besides a few gashes around his body where the armor broke through and a large open wound on his forehead that poured out blood, Zuchino seemed mostly undamaged. The Saiyan looked over himself and wiped the blood from his forehead.

"Shit. And I don't think we've made barely a dent with all of this."

"You okay?" Steve asked as Zuchino looked over at him and gave a sigh, wiping away more of the blood gushing from his cheek wound.

"They've definitely improved their tech, that's for damn sure." Zuchino chuckled. "But that bomb did more damage than I would've liked. I can still fight, but we need to end this quick." To that, Steve nodded. However, Zuchino knew what Cap was thinking and it more than likely wasn't true. The explosion was more powerful than he was showing and he was exhausting his ki reserves to maintain the Super Saiyan transformation. He'd give it ten more minutes of full-on combat before he would have to drop the transformation to fight for another hour at most…and that's not accounting another massive use of ki like his Solar Bomb.

"Yeah, go check on the others. It's been far too quiet on the comms." Steve said; Zuchino nodded before flying off. Once he put considerable distance between him and Cap, a few gliders began following him and firing their blasters at him; he dodged as best he could, even reflecting a few of the blasts at them. However, after turning a corner, he stopped. In front of him was a large group of gliders heading towards him. He turned back, but they were surrounding him on that side as well. He looked up to even see some descending down on him. They blocked every way, ensuring no escape for one of the greatest challenges to their invasion.

"Clever bastards." He growled and charged his energy to a maximum, crossing his arms over his face; his body began to emit a golden glow around it as he transformed into a Super Saiyan yet again. Almost immediately, the gliders began firing their weapons, bombarding the Saiyan with the energy blasts. However, it felt like mere bee stings to the Super Saiyans.

Once his energy finally hit the peak, he released an energy wave from his body in every direction the Chitauri troops surrounded him on. The energy waves atomized the alien conquerors and faded away just as soon as they did their job. Zuchino floated in the air, fighting away his exhaustion. His struggle only lasted for mere seconds before his transformation blinked off and he fell to the street. He struck with enough power to cause a small crater around him, unable to gracefully land. He tried to stand but was unable to fight off the darkness any longer.

* * *

"Zuchino, Stark, are you two hearing me?" Fury's voice roused the Saiyan back to life."We have a missile headed straight for the city."

"How long?" Tony asked as Zuchino stood to his feet, the shock bringing him new life.

"And what kind of missile?" Zuchino added.

"Nuclear. It's 3 minutes at best; the stay load can wipe out mid-town." Fury informed before cutting transmission. Zuchino activated his scouter and held the button a few seconds longer than usual. The screen flashed away before a small message box popped up. "Awaiting command."

"Scan for a flying aircraft made from Terran material within 500 miles of this location." Zuchino commanded as the device accepted the command and displayed an image of the city, generated from the hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite. Towards the bottom, he could see the plane speeding towards the city and the missile that it was planning to launch. Fury was right, it was definitely nuclear and had the power of wiping out not only the general area but very well the entirety of the city. A few solutions passed his mind.

Shooting down a plane would most likely not help. Trying to vaporize the missile and its contents contained slightly more risk. And his only solution left was to hold the missile in an energy barrier and trying to contain the destructive energy once it detonates. Under normal circumstances, it would probably be a little hard, but definitely possible. But this was not normal circumstances and it was definitely not possible with his current ki reserves.

"Damnit." Zuchino muttered before he felt something a roar behind him. He turned around to see another wave of the creatures descending on him, weapons aimed directly at him.

"Do you bastards ever quit?" He growled as he raised his arm, a ball of black ki sparking to life. "Die!" Zuchino bellowed as he shot the energy forward, completely incinerating everything in sight. Once the beam had faded away, he collapsed down to his knees. The previously bombardment and explosion had done more damage to his body than he'd previously thought, judging from the previously unseen wounds causing blood to coat his arms, his massively depleted energy and his slightly blurring vision. The adrenaline from learning about the plane must've pushed him past the pain, but now the pain won out.

Zuchino tried to stand up fully, but his body immediately denied the action and he fell back down to the ground. Denying his body's objections, he grabbed to a light pole to pull himself up and clung to it. Finding the strength, he raised up his good arm and pressed the button on his scouter for a progress report. It quickly alerted him that the plane fired the nuke and it was heading towards them.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy?" Natasha sounded out through his comms. "I can shut the portal down."

"Do it!' Steve ordered through the comms.

"Don't!" Zuchino warned them.

"But we still got more of these things still coming."

"Zuchino's right, we've got a nuke coming in; it's going to blow in less than a minute. I may need a little help."

"On my way." Zuchino said before he charged his power and flew towards the nuke. He quickly caught up to the billionaire and grabbed the top of the weapon and tried to help pull it up.

"You guys know that is a one-way trip…" Steve warned, his tone denoting the grave nature of the situation.

"We know…" Zuchino said before they continued to attempt to tilt the nuke up through the nuke. Their efforts weren't enough, and they were closing in on Stark Tower. Simultaneously thinking to put more power into their efforts, Tony put more power into his boots and Zuchino pushed his body to transform into Super Saiyan; his limits shattered for a few moments. Almost immediately, the nuke tilted upward, aiming directly at the gaping hole of time & space in front of them. Zuchino held his breath once they got closer. Then…they entered it. They quickly found the Chitauri mothership with more waves of the aliens heading towards the planet, waves that would be impossible for anything short of the entire Freeza Force to annihilate at this point. However, before they could release it, Stark's suit powered down and he let go. Seeing something in his peripheral vision, Zuchino looked back to see Tony slowly floating away.

"Tony!" Zuchino screamed before he released the nuke and began heading towards the floating billionaire. His hand reached out to Stark's metal hand…right as his transformation snapped off; his body's remaining energy voided.

 _Shit!_ Zuchino internally shouted as he could feel himself beginning to black out. He looked back to see the bright light of the explosion, brighter than the Earth's sun. Desperation began to surge through his body, and he could feel the adrenaline pumping through his blood once more. He could feel a bit of power appear, which proved just enough for him to quickly grab Stark and dash down to the shrinking portal. Just as the portal closed and disappeared, the Saiyan and the billionaire fell through the portal.

He tried to slow their fall, but his body rejected him. It used every little bit of ki it could spare and now it was doing its best not to use up the last bit of energy keeping him alive and conscious. Thinking fast while gazed at the rapidly approaching planet, he grabbed Stark and pushed the billionaire behind him. He would take the brunt of the impact and might be able to survive such an impact as weakened as he was, but Stark, despite his suit's capabilities, definitely wouldn't. He closed his eyes, making peace with whatever his fate would befall him. However, something grabbed him and Stark from the air and brought them to the ground after skidding down a building. Hulk pushed him and Stark off his torso onto the ground. The green being looked up and gave a small thumbs up to the Saiyan.

"Nice save." He smirked, pushing himself up. Steve and Thor rushed over as Zuchino pulled the faceplate off his helmet. Inside, Stark lied there, not breathing; his arc reactor wasn't even glowing anymore. "Shit." He said, trying to figure out what to do before an idea popped into his head. He placed his hand right where his heart was located above the armor. Quickly channeling the smallest bit of ki he could muster, he shot it into his chest similar to a defibrillator.

It was a technique he'd learned a long ago that would work regardless of his near-fatal level of ki (since Stark didn't need that much ki to survive in the first place). But there was no response afterward. He tried again…and again…and again. Still no response from the billionaire. All hope seemed lost until the Hulk let out a mourning roar; it was enough to shock the billionaire back into the land of the living.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me." Stark panicked as Zuchino laid back down.

"We won." Zuchino said as a smirk began to appear. "We did something even the Freeza Force couldn't do."

"Alright, hey. Alright. Good job, guys." Tony cheered as Zuchino and Steve both began to chuckle. "Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We're not finished yet." Thor reminded as everyone sighed and looked to the tower.

"Then shawarma after?".

* * *

It was a couple of days after the battle and the Avengers gathered at Central Park to oversee Thor's transfer of Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard and away from Earth. While Zuchino wore a black peacoat, black jeans, and a red t-shirt, Steve wore a brown leather jacket, blue shirt, and khakis. The Saiyan had driven to New York to help Steve move his belongings to his new apartment in D.C. (Steve vetoed flight).

Steve finally decided to take S.H.I.E.L.D. up on their offer as a full-time agent. For his sake, they also moved him into the apartment next Zuchino's. If they were going to place Rogers anywhere, it would probably be best for it to be the two shared similar and unique struggles. Zuchino, however, chose to remain on call. While he still had doubts about S.H.I.E.L.D. (and he wasn't sure if it was because he was still unwilling to work for any type of organization after the Freeza Force), he'd still help them in whatever capacity he could.

Dr. Selvig joined them with a glass tube while Tony held the Tesseract within a metal briefcase. Once he and Bruce had removed the Tesseract and placed it in the tube, Thor grabbed it and walked over to Loki, holding it up to his confined hands. Loki grasped one of the handles, not before rolling his eyes in annoyance. Thor looked over to his fellow teammates before nodding. His teammates nodded back in return and he turned the handle. The duo disappeared in a blaze of blue light that left scorch marks on the concrete sidewalk. Almost immediately, Tony turned over to Zuchino with a clap of his hands.

"ET, it's so strange to see you outside of your armor; you almost look human." Tony said.

Zuchino glared at him before looking away with a smirk; despite his annoyance, Tony did have a small bit of charm. "You're so lucky I've grown fond of you." Tony extended his hand, which Zuchino accepted and shook.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"You know, saving my life. I mean, I could've done it myself, but you did what you had to do."

"You don't have to thank me; it was nothing."

"You should take the thanks while you can; I usually don't give them out." Tony reprimanded as Zuchino chuckled.

"Fine, no problem." Zuchino said as Tony turned to Steve. "Captain."

"Mr. Stark." Steve said.

Tony held out his hand. "Tony should be fine." They shook hands and exchange a small smirk.

Zuchino walked over to Bruce, extending his hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Dr. Banner; hope to see you again?"

Bruce smirked before taking his hand and shook it. "I'm thinking around staying around here for a while; help Tony out with repairing the city."

"Great; in case you guys need some extra muscle, don't hesitate to call me. It was my mess too, after all." Zuchino said with a smirk that Bruce returned before he walked away.

Natasha walked up to the Saiyan with Barton. "So, will we be seeing you around S.H.I.E.L.D. now?"

"So-so." Zuchino said as Natasha nodded. "I'll be on call, so I have a feeling you'll be seeing me more often than not over there. After all, for a lot of the world, the universe just got a lot bigger."

"Good. I look forward to working with you some more. Maybe you can teach me a few things, including how to fly."

"We'll see about that." Zuchino said with a small chuckle.

Steve walked up beside Zuchino, grabbing his attention. "You ready?"

"Where are you guys going?" Barton asked.

"Well, Steve's took the job with S.H.I.E.L.D., so he's moving to D.C. and I offered to drive him since I have to head back anyway."

Natasha smiled at the duo. "We'll see you two later, then."

"Hope too." Zuchino said as he gave Natasha a hug before she and Barton got in their car. Zuchino brushed his hair back before grabbing a band to tie it back. "Let's go."

With that, Steve and Zuchino hopped into the Cadillac, the back loaded with Steve's suitcases, and began to drive towards DC.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ And so ends the first story of the Zuchino series. I hope you guys enjoyed it and, in case you never read my profile page, the very next story in this franchise " _The Saiyan Rebellion"_ will be a prequel, chronicling the battle with Freeza before Zuchino arrived on Earth. I can't guarantee when the first chapter will be out, but I'm hoping soon. It will also be on the Avengers/DBZ crossover page, so you can either keep checking there or put me on your author alert list to see when I post.

Now to answer a few questions and clear up some things:

Great Saiyaman54: In this universe, the Asgardians are not considered deities and, as such, do not have divine ki. Instead, Loki knew of Zuchino (despite his fake surprise) and intentionally hid his power level through magical means (Update: I have edited a chapter to explain this further). I was trying to hint at it, but I guess I didn't do good enough so I apologize. Also, I have not decided upon whether Zuchino will teach them how to use ki. We'll just have to see. ;P

A guest asks why do they not see his tail? The answer is that he does not have one (anymore?) and the reason will be shown in the prequel.

Any other questions can be submitted through reviews or you can DM me and I try to answer back in a timely manner. With that, love you guys and thank you so much for the support for this story. I'll see you guys later.


	8. Poll

In a posh living with the fire blazing, Zuchino sat in a chair reading a book. Hearing a sound, he quickly snapped around with a ball of ki in his hand. However, he quickly settled down and gave a soft smirk.

"Oh, hello there, I was just reading this new book called _Fifty Shades of Grey_ Nat recommended to me." Zuchino stated before he burned the book to a crisp. "I hated it. Anyway, the reason the author has posted a brand new chapter to this completed story is simple: feedback. As we are approaching a sort of new era and there have been many ideas bouncing around our heads on who will be the overall arc villain: the options are Mad Titan Thanos, Galactic Overlord Freeza, or someone else entirely (if it is an established MCU/DBZ character, not an original character you thought of or anything of the sort). So in order to settle this, Wesker's Son has decided to create a poll. It is located at the very top of the page, kinda hard to see, but you will see the word poll there. Please answer and help us settle this conundrum. Now, I'll be off inquiring Natasha's literature choices."

 ** _THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK!_**


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